Hexic HD

Just what is Alexey Pajitnov’s secret? First the designer birthed the block-rotating Tetris, which is only the most popular puzzle videogame ever, and now he’s unleashed Hexic, a compelling color-matching timesink that’s pre-loaded on all Xbox 360 hard drives.

The basic idea is rather straightforward. Different-colored hexagons (each color in the rainbow, actually) are stutter-stacked on top of each other in a square-ish grid. You select groups of three of them and can rotate them clockwise or counterclockwise to try to match groups of three, which then clear out and are replaced. You’ll eventually advance to level 7, all the while trying to complete the real objectives: creating rings of like-colored hexes that produce stars, and then creating rings of stars to make black pearls. Oh, and you’ll also be fighting off colored bombs that drop into the field and end your game if you don’t wipe them out in an ever-dwindling number of turns.

Hexic almost single-handedly kept our 360s from collecting cobwebs during the post-launch lull, and we still find ourselves firing it up when we don’t have time for a marathon Oblivion session or some Fight Night brawling. Must…create…black…pearl!